Move from Bay Area (Peninsula) to Irvine area (Anaheim, Orange: home, private schools)

[Mossy]

My husband has an potential opportunity to move with his company from
the Bay Area to Irvine. Would love to know others who have made the move. We have a high sophomore in high school. Doctors are hard to find and a lot of providers in the Bay Area are out of network so we are spending thousands in additional healthcare costs. What is the healthcare like in Orange County? We have lived in the Bay Area for almost 4 years. We don’t know Orange County at all and wondering if we should stay out or make the move.

[quizzer25]

I did the move 6 years back and glad I did. Bay area is very expensive and colder. I like the sunny and warmer OC weather.
OC has Hoag, Saddleback and St.Josephs hospitals and doctors network which are comparable to Bay area ones.
Kaiser Irvine is very similar to Santa Clara.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[Mossy]

Thanks Quizzer!
Looking for some recommendations for high schools. Our daughter loves science and art. She does have asd and anxiety so a highly competitive school wouldn’t be the right fit. Open to public and private schools.

Where are some areas that have a walkable downtown?

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by Mossy

Thanks Quizzer!
Looking for some recommendations for high schools. Our daughter loves science and art. She does have asd and anxiety so a highly competitive school wouldn’t be the right fit. Open to public and private schools.

Where are some areas that have a walkable downtown?

My son went to Portola High. I don't think it's quite as competitive as some of the others and it is very new and safe. Now, just because I say non-competitive does not mean there aren't achievers. Quite a few kids went to the Ivies.

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally Posted by Mossy

Thanks Quizzer!
Looking for some recommendations for high schools. Our daughter loves science and art. She does have asd and anxiety so a highly competitive school wouldn’t be the right fit. Open to public and private schools.

Good schools are usually good because they are competitive, everyone is striving for better.

Originally Posted by Mossy

Where are some areas that have a walkable downtown?

It depends on what you mean by "walkable downtown". A "downtown" you can walk to or a "downtown" has lots of places to walk to, once you get there.

Mostly the older cities, Anaheim, Fullerton, Tustin, San Juan Capistrano, Brea, Laguna Beach and a couple others have what you think of a traditional downtown, Of those I'd never consider Anaheim these days and Brea's downtown isn't the same as it once was. Fullerton has a great downtown with a train station, but I'm not sure how good Fullerton High is these days. Sunny Hills HS in Fullerton is still good, but probably further than you want to be from Irvine.

I think Tustin is great, and might be a nice fit. Tustin High School is good, but I think Beckman is better. Foothill HS in Tustin is in between the two, better than THS, but not as good as Beckman.

Of the Irvine high schools, they are all good with University High being off the charts good, but high competitive. I think Northwood might be the least competitive of the Irvine schools, but still a top ranked school; all of Irvine's schools are.

There is no recognizable downtown in Irvine. It's only been a city since '71 or so and it was built in clusters and bunches with designated shopping centers, but no shopping streets like you think of in a downtown area.

Laguna Beach is great, but expensive. The high school is very good, but not spectacular like the Irvine schools, but it is the best downtown in OC. Tourists from all over the state and world flock to LB; not quite Carmel, but close.

Aliso Viejo doesn't have a downtown area, but is well worth looking at. If you have a $2-3 million budget for a home, I'd look in the Corona del Mar HS district too.

[Mossy]

Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker

My son went to Portola High. I don't think it's quite as competitive as some of the others and it is very new and safe. Now, just because I say non-competitive does not mean there aren't achievers. Quite a few kids went to the Ivies.

Thanks for the tip. I did read alot of good things about Portola. My daughter is a very good student but because of her asd she needs a supportive and less competitive environment.

[Mossy]

Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter

Good schools are usually good because they are competitive, everyone is striving for better.


It depends on what you mean by "walkable downtown". A "downtown" you can walk to or a "downtown" has lots of places to walk to, once you get there.

Mostly the older cities, Anaheim, Fullerton, Tustin, San Juan Capistrano, Brea, Laguna Beach and a couple others have what you think of a traditional downtown, Of those I'd never consider Anaheim these days and Brea's downtown isn't the same as it once was. Fullerton has a great downtown with a train station, but I'm not sure how good Fullerton High is these days. Sunny Hills HS in Fullerton is still good, but probably further than you want to be from Irvine.

I think Tustin is great, and might be a nice fit. Tustin High School is good, but I think Beckman is better. Foothill HS in Tustin is in between the two, better than THS, but not as good as Beckman.

Of the Irvine high schools, they are all good with University High being off the charts good, but high competitive. I think Northwood might be the least competitive of the Irvine schools, but still a top ranked school; all of Irvine's schools are.

There is no recognizable downtown in Irvine. It's only been a city since '71 or so and it was built in clusters and bunches with designated shopping centers, but no shopping streets like you think of in a downtown area.

Laguna Beach is great, but expensive. The high school is very good, but not spectacular like the Irvine schools, but it is the best downtown in OC. Tourists from all over the state and world flock to LB; not quite Carmel, but close.

Aliso Viejo doesn't have a downtown area, but is well worth looking at. If you have a $2-3 million budget for a home, I'd look in the Corona del Mar HS district too.

Here in the bay area Los Gatos, Palo Alto and Los Altos have nice downtowns you can walk to with restaurants and shops. I think Laguna would be the closest to what I am thinking. Thank you for the suggestions. The job would be near UC Irvine. I know the area is pretty spread out.

[BRinSM]

I'm from SoCal and now live in the Bay Area. One of the first things I noticed when moving up north about 5 years ago was the number of nice downtowns relative to SoCal. With your job near UCI, you'll likely not be living that close to any of the aforementioned OC downtowns, unless you end up near the coast or in Tustin. Having said that, OC can be a nice place to live, many areas with top notch schools.

One thing to consider is that your housing dollars will go much further in OC, which is nice. On the flip side, traffic in the area can be terrible. As bad as Bay Area traffic can be, SoCal is next level. On the weekend, from my home near SJ, I can get to SF in under an hour on either 280 or 101 (even pre-pandemic). A comparable drive form Irvine to LA is not realistic outside of the wee hours of the morning. Freeways in SoCal can be just as bad on the weekends as during the work week and the rush hour window will definitely last longer in both the morning and evening. For me, less intense traffic was the most noticeable increase in my quality of life after leaving SoCal. Other than that, weather is a bit better in OC, but it's also much less green. If I were to move back to SoCal, I would also likely have withdrawals from missing the redwood forests. Having said that, the beach is a nice consolation prize. Lastly, from my experience, people are more showy with their money in OC even though incomes are likely much higher in the Bay Area (see home prices). My wife and I have spoken many times about how we prefer the lifestyle up here much better for both ourselves and our kids. YMMV, so I'd definitely explore the opportunity further.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

I'm from SoCal and now live in the Bay Area. One of the first things I noticed when moving up north about 5 years ago was the number of nice downtowns relative to SoCal. With your job near UCI, you'll likely not be living that close to any of the aforementioned OC downtowns, unless you end up near the coast or in Tustin. Having said that, OC can be a nice place to live, many areas with top notch schools.

One thing to consider is that your housing dollars will go much further in OC, which is nice. On the flip side, traffic in the area can be terrible. As bad as Bay Area traffic can be, SoCal is next level. On the weekend, from my home near SJ, I can get to SF in under an hour on either 280 or 101 (even pre-pandemic). A comparable drive form Irvine to LA is not realistic outside of the wee hours of the morning. Freeways in SoCal can be just as bad on the weekends as during the work week and the rush hour window will definitely last longer in both the morning and evening. For me, less intense traffic was the most noticeable increase in my quality of life after leaving SoCal. Other than that, weather is a bit better in OC, but it's also much less green. If I were to move back to SoCal, I would also likely have withdrawals from missing the redwood forests. Having said that, the beach is a nice consolation prize. Lastly, from my experience, people are more showy with their money in OC even though incomes are likely much higher in the Bay Area (see home prices). My wife and I have spoken many times about how we prefer the lifestyle up here much better for both ourselves and our kids. YMMV, so I'd definitely explore the opportunity further.

Yeah, I see quite a few Lambos. Teslas, Audis, Range Rovers, Mercedes etc seem more common than Toyotas where I live.

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

On the flip side, traffic in the area can be terrible. As bad as Bay Area traffic can be, SoCal is next level. On the weekend, from my home near SJ, I can get to SF in under an hour on either 280 or 101 (even pre-pandemic). A comparable drive form Irvine to LA is not realistic outside of the wee hours of the morningr.

I suppose that is true if you think the only route from Irvine to "LA" (in this case DTLA) is the 5 Freeway. I get from my home in Corona del Mar to my office in DTLA in less than an hour most days. I won't give up my secret route, but in the days of Waze, it isn't hard to duplicate. It also helps to have a working knowledge of all the freeways that are possible (5, 605, 710, 91, 105, 110, 60) and an Express Pass.